


36 Questions

by Chocolate_Cigars_and_root_beer



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, Cutesy, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 09:37:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14974379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolate_Cigars_and_root_beer/pseuds/Chocolate_Cigars_and_root_beer
Summary: On their maybe first date, Mendel and Trina ask each other the '36 questions to fall in love' and such cute fluff ensues.





	36 Questions

**Author's Note:**

> The bitch is back with something kinda happy wow. Also, I'm working on Mendel's chapter I promise.

Grabbing coffee had slowly devolved into lunch, then hanging out on a stoop, and finally into drinks at Mendel’s apartment where the concept of asking the ‘36 questions to fall in love' popped up, it was a fair enough idea nothing at this point could really ruin the night.

“So we switch off asking each question.” Mendel sat down the list of questions pulled up onto the cracked display of his phone

“That’s simple enough.” Trina fiddled with the button of her cardigan “Who should go first?”

“Me?” Trina nodded and Mendel looked back down at his phone “If you could invite anyone in the world to dinner, who would it be?”

Trina leaned into the faux leather of Mendel’s coach “Living or dead?”

“I don’t think it matters.”

“Oh, then Marilyn Monroe.”

The answer seemed odd he wasn’t sure what he had expected an author perhaps “Really?”

“Yeah! I’ve always found her story fascinating. But what about you?”

“Carl Jung, I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.” Mendel passed the phone to Trina who squinted slightly the read the small print.

“Would you like to be famous, if so in what way?” she tucked one side of her hair behind her ear “Not really I was never one for fame.”

“Yeah me too.” Mendel agreed as he was once again handed his phone “Before a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you’re going to say? Why?” Mendel furrowed his brow “I think so, sometimes at least if I’m nervous about talking the person at least.”

“Who would you be nervous to talk to?”

“How long do you have?” Mendel smiled.

“Well I don’t really practice my calls, I wouldn’t really need to.”

“What would constitute your ‘perfect’ day?” Trina set the phone down in between the two “Well it’s a weekend, I wake up late make breakfast and then go to central park with family, get home in the afternoon.” she shrugged.

“Well, I guess my perfect day would be rainy and I could stay inside in just read maybe?”

“What would you read?” Trina made eye contact with the man for a few seconds.

“If I’m being honest probably some horrible young-adult book they’re easy reads and just fun.” he paused “When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? Well, I sang to myself this morning and if dogs count I sang to Martha before I left.” the mutt perked up slightly at the mention of her name. The concept of Mendel singing to the dog made Trina smile.

“Well I sang to myself while making breakfast this morning and I’m not sure when but it’s a safe bet that the person I last sang to was Jason.” she was actually correct her and Jason had sung an Alanis Morissette song together as she drove him to his father’s house for the weekend just weeks prior. “If you were able to live to 90 and retain the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? I’d imagine body I mean being that fragile would kinda be awful.”

“I’d choose mind, it is most of my job.” the man rested his arm on the side of the couch “Do you have a hunch about how you will die?”

“I always think I’m going to die in the ocean somehow, so drowning.” Trina had always been afraid of water.

“I think I’m gonna die in my car but I’m not sure how. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.”

“Well we both have to deal with Marvin.” they chuckled together.

“We both have curly hair.” Trina pointed her finger to almost confirm the statement “We’re both cat people.”

“I still don’t understand why you got a dog” she turned to the mutt who was sleeping happily on the beat up bed that sat in the corner of the living room “No offense Martha.”

“Well, I went to the shelter to get a cat and then she was there.”

“For what in your life do you feel most grateful? I’m grateful to have Jason in my life.” the woman smiled.

“I’m grateful to be surrounded by such amazing people every day.” he locked eyes with Trina for just a second one of the ‘amazing people’ he had been talking about “If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? I can’t really think of anything but then again I can’t remember that much of my childhood.”

“I’d probably change never really being my own person for most of my teenage years I just felt like my parent’s daughter not really like a person.” she untucked the strand of hair that had been still for so long. “Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.” Trina sighed “Well I was born Bayonne,” Trina pointed her finger towards Jersey “I had an older sister and my family was pretty nuclear. Straight A student since day one, when I was eighteen I moved to the city for college met Marvin thought he was nice. Then two years later boom I’m pregnant with Jason and my father says that he can’t be a ‘bastard’.” Trina put air quotes around the word “So we married and I dropped out and played the housewife for a while and then that blew up and here we are.”

“You’re from Jersey?”

“Yup I dropped the accent as soon as possible, but what about you?”

“Well I was born in Connecticut and my family was mostly normal, my Dad was a tailor and my Mom was a painter I had two brothers but we never really clicked together. When I was eighteen I got into NYU and moved to the city and then I just kinda existed for a while-”

“That’s not a detailed answer.”

Mendel chuckled his laugh reminded Trina oddly of home it was warm and something you couldn’t help but want to hear again “I don’t remember a lot my long-term memory is horrible, but yeah I never really thought I’d stay in New York for some reason but then I stayed for ten years and here we are.” Mendel ended his story in the same way that Trina did “If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?”

“I’d chose the ability to speak any language or to be able to play any instrument, I just haven’t had the time to learn more than one.”

“That’s fair, I’d wanna fly just to have the wind in my face and to be able to just gaze down at the world.” Mendel ruffled the top of his hair a smile firmly plastered on his face.

Trina whipped the fringe of her rust-colored hair out of her eyes to read the next question “If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?”

“Will I ever get married?” the question was short and somewhat awkward to say on well this wasn’t exactly a first date or a date at all.

“I don’t think I would ask anything, I’d be too scared of the answer.”

“Is there something you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?” Mendel looked off into the distance as if in thought he honestly had his answer already ready “Backpacking around Europe and I haven’t done it because I don’t have the time.”

“Europe would be nice,” Trina hummed for a second “But I’ve always wanted to skydive and I haven’t done it because it just seems too dangerous.” Trina looked down to read again “What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?”

“Getting my masters probably. I didn’t sleep for two years so I didn’t get to enjoy it that much.” he shrugged.

“I mean I guess raising one fully human.” she phrased it oddly something that Mendel noticed and found somewhat funny “I’m sorry that I keep going back to Jason.”

“No, it’s fine! You’re being honest ya know if that includes Jason that’s fine!” Mendel nodded his head “What do you value most in a friendship?”

“Dependability to know that someone is going to be there through thick and thin.” the answer seemed pointed at Marvin.

“I think compatibility if I don’t click with a person then what’s really the point?”

“What is your most treasured memory.”

“There’s this one summer I must have been maybe twenty and I just drove across the country, met all these amazing people, saw these amazing sights, and I remember just standing on the beach in California and just feeling complete.” Mendel’s answer seemed so simple and yet Trina wanted to hear more about this road trip she made a mental note to ask later.

“Well again sorry to keep going back to the same answer but the day Jason was born was awful for like eleven hours and then I held him in my arms and I just looked down and thought ‘This is my kid’ and it was a feeling of just a love that I had never felt before so that’s probably up there.” in these moments she was beginning to realize just how much of herself was built on Jason.

“What is your most terrible memory?” Mendel gave a slightly embarrassed sigh not ready to answer this particular question.

“Well, when I was about sixteen my appendix burst.” Mendel cringed back “I know! But the thing is I didn’t think ‘Oh I have appendicitis’ I just thought I was sick so I stayed like that for two days.” this was a lie, in fact, the worst memory that was stored in Trina’s mind was the day Marvin had finally served the divorce papers and then flew off with Whizzer.

“It’s amazing that you’re still alive after that.” Mendel perked the bottom of his lip out “Mine seems stupid now. When I was in college I once got drunk at some frat party and I mean like blackout drunk and when I woke up the next morning I had the worst hangover of my life and I had to get myself to a final which I threw up during and then pass out somewhere in hopes of feeling better when I woke up.”

“Who drinks the night before they have a final?”

“Twenty-year-old Mendel who had no worries apparently.”

“If you knew that in one year you were going to die suddenly, would you change anything about how you are currently living? Why?”

“I’d quit my job and travel the world because that’s all I’ve written down on my bucket list.” the man had indeed sat down and tried to write one but he only got to one item on the list.

“That makes sense. I’d throw myself into more things and stop being so nervous.”

“You could start doing that right now.”

It was Trina’s turn to stare off into the distance “Yeah but- I’m not sure I need to.”

“What does friendship mean to you?” he smiled again but this time it was more subdued, “I think friendship is having somebody by your side, like a mutual respect and caring.”

“I can get behind that. What roles do love and affection play in your life.” Trina breathed out and folded her hands placing them firmly into her lap “I’ve never really lived an adult life without it so it’s become what I’m used to.”

This is where their answers seemed to be so different “Well I spent most of my adult life without it so I’m not really sure I’d be sure how to define it.”

“Maybe you have and you just don’t really know.” the theory seemed plausible at least in Trina’s mind.

“Perhaps.” Mendel gave another half-truth he knew now.

“Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five. You’re incredibly kind.”

“You’re the most caring person I’ve ever met.”

Trina smiled, her smile was incredibly warm something that could easily light up a room “I’d say the same thing about you!” she patted his knee “You’re extremely intelligent and yet you’re not annoying about it.” this was something that Trina had easily recognized Mendel was no Marvin he didn’t seem to be as full of himself at least not arrogant.

“Well, you’re extremely modest.” Trina laughed “No I mean it! You manage to balance so much and make it seem as if your life is the easiest.” that was something Trina didn’t do intentionally she had been desensitized to everything in her life.

“You have a lovely smile.” it sounded as if she was flirting which she had honestly not meant.

Mendel moved his eyes around the room “You have a great sense of fashion.”

She smiled again “Thank you.”

“Thank you!” he turned his eyes to the phone yet again “How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most people’s?”

“My family is distant but we’re not like estranged and my childhood was pretty normal, not happier but not bad.” she used an almost questioning tone.

“I mean my family is very close and my childhood was pretty happy probably happier than normal.”

“How do you feel about your relationship with your Mother?” Trina gave a watery chuckle “Well we’re not close and she doesn’t want that much to do with me so it’s strained to say the most.”

This is the point where their answers seemed to be starting to differ more and more “I talk to my Mother every day and I’ve always been closer to her than anyone else in my family so we have a pretty good relationship. Make three ‘we’ statements. For instance ‘We are both in this room feeling.’”

“We both like sugar in our coffee.” the instance was simple enough.

“We both grew up Jewish.”

Trina nodded “Very Jewish. We both feel rather awkward right now.”

“Yeah.” Mendel laughed again.

“Complete this sentence ‘I wish I had someone with whom I could share-’” the two paused not sure what exactly to say “A home.”

“A life.” their answers seemed to line up almost too perfectly “If you were to become close friends with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.”

“I’m truly trying to be a good person I promise.” her lips turned up as if it were a quirky joke.

“When I get anxious and it’s over something stupid you can tell me that it’s stupid and not feel bad.” his smile mirrored Trina’s at that moment.

“Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met. I admire how you can make a person feel like they truly matter even if it’s just for a few seconds.”

Mendel blushed “I like how you can be kind and caring to people you know truly nothing about.” Mendel froze for a second when he read the next question “Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.”

“Oh boy.”

“Mine takes place in seventh grade.”

“That is truly the year of human awkwardness.”

Mendel laughed “It truly is. But I was really into skateboarding for some odd reason and I just couldn’t I think it’s because I have no center of gravity so for the entirety of seventh grade I promised everyone that I could skate and every day I would prove myself wrong it was awful.”

“Our stories are pretty similar actually.” Trina trailed off for a second “So I was in high school and in art class so I was carrying a lot of paint oil paint specifically. So I’m just getting on my way to my table and I trip and in some attempt to save the paints I guarded them with my arms?”

“I don’t think that would work.” Mendel interrupted.

“It didn’t oil paint splattered all over me and I almost cried because first of all those paints were expensive and for the rest of maybe the week I would have to explain that yes I was that girl who caused the huge paint stain in the art room. Except it wasn’t a week it was until I graduated and on top of that I had to pay for the paints I destroyed which were like $85 I didn’t have.”

“Wow, $85 for paints?”

“They were high quality and I had a lot of them.” the explanation was short and the only part of that whole situation that Trina couldn’t vividly remember “When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?”

“In front of somebody else must have been college and alone was maybe last week when I was watching some Pixar movie.”

“I can’t even remember the last time I cried in front of somebody else” that was a lie she had cried in front of Marvin during one of their last breakfasts together “But I cried this morning.” her eyes almost pleaded from his not to ask and he didn’t.

“Tell your partner something that you like about them already.” he rolled his eyes “There are so many of these questions.”

“Well, I like your smile.”

“And I enjoy yours so I think that’s an answer.”  
  
“What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? I think things like suicide maybe? Just really serious stuff.” Mendel nodded along.

“I agree with that.” they locked eyes before Mendel swooped down to ask another question “If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet? Probably saying I love you to someone.” the answer was intentionally vague.

“Why haven’t you told them that yet?”

“Just scared I guess. What’s yours?” Mendel had mastered the simple craft of throwing the spotlight off of himself.

“If we’re gonna go vague telling somebody that I’m proud of them.” Trina nodded.

“It’s a mystery of who that could be.”

“Twist ending: It’s you.” Mendel chuckled “Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?”

“Jason’s baby book it has a lot of his documents and baby photos just a lot of memories in there or the ring my cousin gave me before she died.” both were things that Trina had kept close to her the ring she had only started holding close during mostly adulthood.

“I’d grab that photo of my great grandma.” he pointed to a framed photo of a fairly pretty woman smiling in black and white “It’s one of the few family photos we have before the 50’s.”

“Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?” Trina’s brows furrowed.

“That’s heavy.”

“Yeah kinda dark,” Trina added.

“I suppose my youngest brother just because he is ya know the youngest so I never really like the thought of his death.”

“Jason’s would be beyond disturbing for me but that seems like the right answer.”

“Final question!” the man announced almost relieved that the almost oversharing would soon be over “Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.”

“So like every other time we’ve met?”

“I mean we don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” wearing his emotions on his sleeve was something Mendel would never be too good at so avoiding this question was something he had secretly hoped to skip.

“I mean you listen to my problems maybe it’s time I heard one of yours.” Trina leaned her head on her fist.

“Well I can’t argue with that.” he breathed out, this wasn’t that big of a deal “I feel like I’m in love with a person that will never be in love with me.” it was a rather obvious reference to Trina and their current relationship and their maybe date. He wasn’t sure what he wanted the outcome to be perhaps a small ‘me too’ or a denial of any relationship beyond their current friendship. Rather than that Trina pressed her lips against his. The kiss was rather uncoordinated and slightly messy in nature but when they both pulled away they started laughing not the same laughs they had shared while asking the questions this was one of pure joy.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaa yeah I'll read this later to see if it even makes sense if it doesn't I hope you enjoyed this weird shit. Also, like where is Jason? Probably at Marvin's but I like to think he was at the empty apartment.


End file.
